I first saw the work of Dallas artist Cabe Booth at the 2012 Art Conspiracy event in Dallas, Tx. I have always been a fan of realism and his portraits of Andy Worhol and David Bowie really spoke to me about his attention to detail and dedication to exemplifying the subject in his work. And then I had a few cocktails and forgot all about him…
Fast forward to 2014. I had been slaving over my adaptation of the original White Rock screenplay to a prose format for over 5 years. With life constantly getting in the way, the process had become a labor of love and I was finally finished with the initial work and the lugubrious task of editing was staring me in the face. So, since I had yet to make contact with a viable literary agent willing to take me on as a client, I resigned myself to the fact that I was probably going to be my own Captain Ahab alone on this boat in the middle of the ocean (except for my angel of an editor without whom I would have been swept overboard long ago). So to keep my head in the game, while procrastinating voraciously, I started imagining what the finished product would actually look like once it was completed. Being an artist myself, I had definite ideas floating around of cover art concepts, however, my talents are more in the applied design arena instead of realistic human form representation. I knew I would have to get someone to reproduce the visions I saw in my head.
I had already spoken to a number of industry people over the years who were interested in my project on some level, either from the angle of helping me, stealing it from me, or perhaps just waiting around to see a three-car pile-up (God knows how we all love to see someone fail majestically). I knew I wanted this to be a DALLAS-BASED project and at the time the city had been getting a lot of press for a variety of reasons. Even though I knew I would miss the buzz, I knew my project fit right in somewhere left of center between the resurgence of the doomed Dallas episodic television series and Prison Break.
While perusing Facebook one evening, I came across the familiar name of Cabe Booth. He was the artist I remembered from ArtCon and he just happened to be connected to a number of friends. After reacquainting myself with his work I knew right off the bat that he was the one I wanted to do the cover art for my novel.
It didn’t take long for Cabe and I to touch base and make an agreement for the work. Unfortunately, again, life seemed to have it’s own itinerary, for both he and I. Now, anyone who knows me will testify that, though I am a smart, capable person, that I’m pretty much my own worst enemy. And I sometimes I make things harder on myself than they really need to be. Well, I had found a soul-mate of sorts in Cabe Booth because the two years it took us to get this work started and anywhere near finished was rife with personal struggles, false starts, and simply bad timing.
But hey, no one ever said anything good would be easy, right? So, here we are at the 11th hour, getting ready to launch the website and send the book to press and begin pre-sales of the book, and even though all I have is the first draft of the artwork, I still LOVE IT . And I know the finished piece will blow my socks off, once the planets align, Sagittarius is in the 2nd house, and wombats sing Sinatra. I know this because I have a kindred spirit in Mr. Cabe Booth. He and I are art warriors. We fight our way through the hords of nay-saying Orcs and live to tell the gruesome tales… He’s an amazing talent and I want him on the next three projects. But one thing is for certain- next time I will put my order in 8 months early…